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Growing With Proficiency The Podcast
Welcome to Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast! Are you a World Language teacher who is looking for ideas, strategies, activities, and inspiration to create a World Language class where you and your students enjoy using the language to learn about the world and each other? Do you want to transform your class into an acquisition-driven instruction space where you intentionally provide a ton of comprehensible input?
If you are, you're in the right place.
Let's start this journey together. Head over to IG, and send me a DM @claudiamelliott to let me know what topics you would like me to cover in an upcoming episode.Join my free Facebook community, Growing With C. Also, check out my blog to start discovering some of these ideas and strategies at growingwithproficiency.com
Growing With Proficiency The Podcast
Episode 153: Back To School Series: Planning a Sustainable Year in the World Language Classroom: Five Steps for Success
Planning for a new school year can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to create a class centered on communication and proficiency, not grammar features. In this episode, I walk you through five intentional steps to help you map out your year with clarity and sustainability. You’ll learn how to prioritize compelling input, build a flexible curriculum map, and keep your students’ needs and your well-being at the center of your planning.
This episode will help you feel more grounded and confident heading into the school year.
Key Takeaways:
Start with the big picture. Use a year-at-a-glance calendar to identify your teaching windows, breaks, and celebrations you want to highlight.
- Let your communicative anchors lead. Plan around meaningful questions and content, not grammar structures.
- Reuse what worked. Bring back favorite units that felt joyful and effective.
- Fill in the gaps with purpose. Choose content that supports the required curriculum while staying rooted in compelling, comprehensible input.
- Plan for creativity. Schedule storyasking and one-word image sessions to provide rich, personalized input.
- Simplify. Step back and adjust your calendar to keep your plan flexible and realistic. Aim for sustainability, not perfection.
Resources Mentioned:
Episode 151: The 3 Pillars of a Sustainable Language Classroom
Episode 152 (Spanish): Cinco Claves para Prepararte Antes del Primer Día
Episode 131: Understanding ACTFL's New Proficiency Descriptors with Mary Hawkins
Episode 33 and 99: Featuring Dr. Karen Lichtman on Language Acquisition Research
Spanish Teacher Academy Trial Access: growingwithproficiency.com/trial
More about the Crescendo Curriculum and planning framework: growingwithproficiency.com/academy
